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Art Over Hunger: Fueling Creativity and Feeding Families

Racquel Ankney, B.B.A.’07, a strategic planner at McCann and social media manager for the cause, says that her role in Art Over Hunger is to keep the conversation going about hunger in urban areas. Last December, when her employer McCann Detroit partnered with Aldi grocery stores to create an awareness for hunger program in a creative and unique way, Ankney took to social media to promote the idea.

Ankney, a strategic planner at McCann and social media manager for the cause, says that her role in Art Over Hunger is to keep the conversation going about hunger in urban areas.

The idea was fun and simple. Five teams of students were given $250 to purchase nonperishable foods at Aldi stores in the metro Detroit area. Students were then challenged to create three-dimensional sculptures out of the food items. Their sculptures were then put on display in the McCann Detroit “art gallery” lobby. The sculptures were displayed until mid-December, and then donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

When the sculptures were donated, more than 1,200 families were fed during the holiday season.

“It’s important to not only make your audience aware of the program itself, but also to be a part of the existing conversations about hunger in America and how we can make a dent in the problem,” says Ankney. “Just because the sculptures are no longer on display in our lobby, doesn’t mean Art Over Hunger becomes socially silent.”

Ankney credits the Haworth College of Business with her passion to continue to grow and pursue new ventures and marketing opportunities in her career.

“The idea that non-perishable food items can be transformed into art isn’t a new concept,” Ankney says. “However we were able to create awareness by being able to better understand how social media can make a difference and influence consumers and a cause as a whole.”